Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Review By Carly Twehous Stars Hollow, Connecticut and the spunky mother-daughter duo of Lorelei and Lorelei (Rory) Gilmore immediately captured the hearts of viewers way back in 2000, when it first aired. Back then, Rory was a high school sophomore, who always had her nose in a book, and Lorelei was a fast-talking, …

(2017—Director: Terry George) ★★★ (out of 5 stars) For much of his career, Irish writer-director Terry George drew from his experiences of the Irish “Troubles” to craft absorbing tales of perseverance in an oppressive landscape. This ranges from Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite getting framed and imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit in 1993’s In the Name of the …

Last Man Standing: A Review and Defense of AMC’s The Walking Dead By Carly Twehous Admittedly, I am rather late on jumping on The Walking Dead wagon train. I’ve always had this disproportionate, yet completely reasonable fear of cannibals and, well, flesh-eating zombies fit the bill. Eventually, I broke down. It was finals week, I’d just finished my traditional …

— By Carly Twehous — Best-selling author, Margaret Atwood, published her prolific dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, in 1985, a year after George Orwell’s famous Big Brother society was supposed to take place. Western culture, it seems, has an innate fascination with end-of-society epics and forlorn, tragic heroes. There an inherent cultural fear that began with Orwell and Aldus Huxley …

(2017—Director: Ridley Scott) ★★★ 1/2 (out of 5 stars) (Potential spoilers below) 2017 marks the fortieth year in the career of celebrated director Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, The Martian). Scott at the moment appears to devote the majority of his interests and seasoned talents in returning to the roots of Alien, his 1979 commercial breakthrough, through a more intelligent …

— By Carly Twehous — Randall is a moderately successful lawyer, with a wife, two daughters, and an estranged, terminally ill biological father who’s now living in the guest bedroom. Kevin is the dreamer of improbable dreams, whose face is plastered on every billboard across America, but loses a piece of his soul every time he steps in front of …

— By Carly Twehous — [Warning for spoilers and discussion on suicide.] Since it hit Netflix last month, 13 Reasons Why has been a subject of debate, discussion, and deliberation among both critics and the general audiences. Whether negative or positive, 13 Reasons has caused quite a stir, given its graphic depiction of suicide in the final episode. School districts …

(2017—Director: James Ponsoldt) ★★ (out of 5 stars) One of The Circle’s first trailers, released last December, starts off with a modified version of the scene in which Emma Watson’s character undergoes an interview for a job at the titular Internet corporation. The interviewer presses her, “You’re most scared of…?” to which she replies, “Unfulfilled potential.” In that case, the …

(2017—Director: Marc Webb) ★★★ (out of 5 stars) Parenthood is difficult, especially on where a parent should steer their young children, given the talents they have begun to show. Do parents raise their children in a conventional way or do they throttle them towards the first talent they recognize or one that runs in the family? Is the correct …

(2017—Director: Daniel Espinosa) ★★★ (out of 5 stars) With the Alien franchise delivering a new installment in a few months and just a few years removed from the emotional and visual roller-coaster that was 2013’s Gravity, I felt positive about this new ensemble sci-fi thriller directed by Swedish director Daniel Espinosa (Safe House, Child 44). It boasts an international ensemble cast, …